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5 Simple Things Business Leaders Need to Stop Doing Right Now

As a business leader, employees will be looking to you to set the pace and act as an example. Unfortunately not all leaders do that, and many make lots of small but crucial mistakes that affect their business.

If you want to become a more effective leader, there are five simple things that you absolutely must stop doing – right now:

  • Being too friendly with employees

While there is nothing wrong with a business leader being open and approachable, you should always remember to set clear boundaries. At the end of the day you are an authority figure, and not their ‘buddy’.

If you are too friendly with employees it can erode your authority. Some employees may even try to take advantage of the perceived friendship to gain a leg up.

  • Emphasizing yourself instead of the team

As the leader of a team, you should be placing emphasis on the team – and not on yourself. In particular the business’ goals and tasks should be a shared venture.

It is important to reinforce that fact, and make employees feel more involved. Even something as simple as intentionally using ‘we’ instead of ‘I’ when referring to goals and tasks can shift the emphasis to the team.

  • Trying to micromanage everything

Good leaders delegate a task, and then let the employee determine the path to complete it. Bad leaders delegate tasks, but micromanage every aspect of it, insist it be done their way, and immediately take back control at the first hint of trouble.

Rather than micromanaging, try to macro-manage employees by setting clear expectations and finding ways to measure performance. One option is to use WorkExaminer as it can track computer and internet activity to provide valuable performance and efficiency indicators.

Just be careful that you don’t use WorkExaminer to micromanage on a deeper level. If you do, you need to stop to track employees and start to track their computers and activity trends that could influence performance instead.

  • Not providing feedback and positive reinforcement

If you don’t provide employees with feedback, they won’t have a clear understanding of what you expect from them. That is easily avoided however, by making it a point to give your employees more feedback.

The data from WorkExaminer can often help you to provide more effective feedback. Its monitoring of user activities and trends will let you suggest improvements that could improve efficiency.

Make sure that not all of your feedback is negative however, and mix in some positive reinforcement. For example if WorkExaminer shows that a particular employee has been working long hours to finish a project – let them know you’ve noticed, and appreciate it.

  • Not notifying employees when using monitoring software

When you’re using employee monitoring software like WorkExaminer, you need to notify employees. If you don’t they’ll likely feel that it’s a violation of their privacy.

Instead, you should come up with a clear policy for computer and internet usage, and explain to them what data will be monitored using WorkExaminer – and why. Be sure to provide them with an avenue to give their feedback, and listen to any suggestions they may have.

As you can see WorkExaminer brings up employee monitoring process to a new level, and can help you be a more effective leader. By using it right and avoiding the mistakes listed above – you should be able to become the kind of leader that your business needs.

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